Digital TV Blog

Virgin mimic Sky's DVR subscription-fee slashing

Virgin Media are planning to either reduce or wholly drop the monthly charge for privilege of using the V+ DVR service. The V+ feature allows you to pause and rewind broadcasts, record two programmes to the receiver whilst watching a third, and is currently available for an additional monthly fee of either £10 or £15, depending on which Size TV package you sign up to.

This follows an announcement from Sky, that from July, the Sky+ service, which also allows you to pause/rewind/record live TV would be free to all customers who had a monthly satellite TV subscription, and has been cited as another example of the ongoing one-upmanship between the two pay-TV competitors. However, interactive DVR features have been inclusive on the other digital TV platforms for a while now.

The somewhat confusingly named V-Box, the Philips-manufactured DVR that comes with BT Vision, boasts the same functionality, allowing for up to 80 hours of content to be stored on its internal hard drive, and after the initial connection and installation charges have been made, there are no monthly fees for the service, and it's the same story in the Top-Up TV corner; the recordable functions of the Top-Up TV Anytime box comes as part of the package, the cost of which is included in the standard £9.99 a month subscription.

The rewind and record TV technology that was introduced into the market via Sky+ way back in 2001 has become more commonplace with Freeview boxes such as the Sagem 62160SL-T, which offers similar functionality at no additional monthly cost.

Minister orders Competition Commision to review swoop purchase

With as many twists and intrigues as an entire season of Lost, the Sky/Virgin/Practically Everyone Else feud took another surprising turn today, when Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling green lighted a proposal to refer the satellite broadcaster to the Competition Commission, two days ahead of when he was expected to make a formal annoucement.

Sky's swift purchase of a 17.9% stake in ITV – effectively halting a potential takeover bid from anyone, including Virgin Media – has now been slated for an in depth investigation.

In his statement, Mr Darling said: "My decision reflects consideration of the reports I have received from both the Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom and of other representations I have received about this matter. On the basis of the evidence before me, a fuller investigation by the Competition Commission is justified."

Sky's spokesperson said of the ruling that they: "look forward to engaging with the Competition Commission as the ongoing regulatory process enters its next phase."

Sky bought the stake in ITV last November, when Virgin Group head honcho Richard Branson was putting the finishing touches to the Virgin Mobile/ntl:Telewest merger, prior to the launch of the Virgin Media brand in March. At the time, Branson was particularly vocal about the purchase, calling it an attempt "to stifle competition and secure creeping control of the British media."

This week has seen Sky doing its best to undermine Virgin's credibility in a separate court battle over the carriage fees for the missing channels. Firstly, Sky allowed private correspondence between James Murdoch and Virgin Media boss Steve Burch to be published – the letters apparently show Sky offering Virgin apparently reasonable terms which, of course, were rejected, hence the subsequent publication of the letters.

Murdoch's letter read: "Our new offer is that we simply split the difference between each party's last offer in respect of the carriage of our basic channels…We hope that you will accept this proposal and meet us in the middle so that we can rapidly complete a legally binding agreement that enables the return of Sky's basic channels to Virgin Media's customers within days." Burch responded to Murdoch in writing, saying that Virgin was "fully prepared to negotiate" further but was rejecting the proposed offer.

As was mentioned in yesterday's blog, Sky also leaked news of talks with Tiscali, who are competing with Virgin in the broadband and digital TV markets, which apparently involve giving Tiscali the rights to show a range of Sky channels, including the very same ones that were pulled from Virgin. It is entirely possible that this talk is nothing more than that, designed to make Virgin look inflexible, whilst also presenting a threat – Virgin Media briefly enjoyed being the most popular ISP in the UK at the time of its launch, before swiftly being overtaken by BT – to Virgin's position in the broadband league.

It could take several months for a Competition Commission review to make a decision on Sky. The TV company could be forced to sell or give up some or all of the stake, although if Sky chooses to appeal against any ruling, this could prolong the process, thereby increasing Virgin's frustration.

Stay tuned for the next episode…

Sky do a deal with internet rival behind Virgin's back

Sky have indirectly dealt Virgin a blow which may prove detrimental to the upcoming court case over the carriage fees row.

Tiscali, who and are rivals to both Sky and Virgin in the converged Broadband/TV/Phone service market are in talks with Sky over a deal, which will allow a number of Sky channels – a line up which crucially includes the ones dropped from Virgin in March – to be broadcast on Tiscali's IPTV platform.

Tiscali are currently in direct competition with Virgin in the Broadband market, and getting hold of the coveted Sky One may attract customers dissatisfied with the media giant's services.

This would also be advantageous for Sky, as details emerged that Tiscali were willing to accept terms and carriage fees that Virgin were not. This alone makes Sky's courtroom position more legitimate and makes Virgin look tenacious by comparison, and if the deal goes ahead, then will force Virgin to accept similar terms, or see the value of their TV service diminish.

Critics have been quick to point out that releasing information of the talks with Tiscali before May 26th – the date for when a decision on whether Sky would be subject to further scrutiny over the ITV stake is to be announced – is a cynical tactic designed to scupper legal proceedings in the summer, as the deal is purely speculative and not yet done.

However this is to be expected; Sky see regulatory bodies as being overly authoritarian and are used to playing hardball with people who think they can push them around. Whether this news affects the Trade Secretary's ruling or not remains to be seen…

Digital provider slashes prices – again

Top Up TV have yet again trimmed the asking price for the Thomson manufactured Anytime DVR box, bringing the initial fee down to £139.99.

There are now no connection fees for the Top Up TV Anytime package, and the first month of the service, usually billed at £9.99 remains absolutely free. This takes the total start-up price down by roughly £70 from what it was at the start of the year £180 for the set-top box plus a £30 connection charge.

Customers can get all the Freeview channels as well as the ability to store up to 160GB of data (roughly equating to 120 hours of TV, and twice the amount available on the Sky+ box) on the built-in hard drive, the ability to pause, rewind and record broadcasts, and select programmes from a range of premium content from 19 additional subscription channels, which are downloaded overnight and stored on a separate section of the box's hard drive.

The basic deal, now costing just under £250 for the first year of the service, can be upgraded so that PictureBox, a movie channel service costing an extra £7 a month is available, and live sports coverage, courtesy of Setanta Sports, can be added for an additional £10.99 a month.

'The name's Branson, Richard Branson' - Digital TV blogger's puns now Virgin on the ridiculous

Virgin cable customers still miffed at having lost (sorry) viewing rights to high-octane series 24 can now choose to watch another popular series of heavily armed agents with gadgets blowing things up and racing against the clock in order to foil the plans of evil multinational terrorist organisations.

Virgin Media have recently secured rights to premiere the highly acclaimed and recently released Casino Royale, along with the entire official James Bond franchise as part of its TV On Demand platform, including past favourites such as Goldfinger, Thunderball and The Spy Who loved Me.

Hopefully the line-up will include an uncensored version of 1987's The Living Daylights, aka The One where Timothy Dalton Hooks Up with the Taliban. Oddly enough, the London edition of the Financial Times has recently plastered posters all around the capital depicting Richard Branson as Che Guevara, Marxist revolutionary and activist/terrorist (delete as appropriate)...

Each Bond adventure will be available on demand for the price of £2.50 a go, with the exception of Casino Royale, which is priced at the slightly higher £3.50. Once downloaded, the films are available for the eyes of Virgin Media agents only, for up to 24 hours, after which they will self-destruct.

Broadband + TV providers remind customers of their existence

As the broadband ISP market continues to converge and condense, two of the main players in this market, BT and Tiscali, both quietly branched into the digital TV market last year by launching a combined broadband internet/on-demand TV services.

Tiscali, who took over the successful Homechoice platform which broadcast in London last year, have recently re-launched their on-demand service which allows broadband customers can download TV programmes and movies to rent or own from their site. The announcement of the services comes just after a deal had been sealed with Arts Alliance Media – the same film distribution company which supplies Channel 4 with content for their 4oD on-demand service – and is set to attract even more revenue for Tiscali, in addition to the cash they are set to reap from the 60,000+ customers who have signed up for Tiscali broadband since January.

The agreement now sees PC users able to choose from a growing archive of films, documentaries, sporting events which currently totals to over 500. Mac users can't sign up for this just yet, but it is highly likely that this will be rectified in the future, maybe in time for July this year, when Tiscali are set to unveil a shiny new HD set-top box.

In response to this, BT, who are currently enjoying a dominant position as the UK's number one supplier of broadband internet services, have just launched a national ad campaign to promote BT Vision, the hybrid IPTV service that streams DTT channels through an aerial and set-top box a la Freeview, and allows for on-demand content to be downloaded via a Broadband connection via BT's better known Home Hub, which then wirelessly routes content to the decoder.

BT Vision's HD-ready V-Box – not to be confused with Virgin Media's HD enabled V+ Box – combines an EPG with a PVR which can record up to 80 hours of content, and is available free to BT Broadband customers, after one-off connection and installation charges which total at £90. There is no monthly subscription charge, besides the cost of whatever on-demand content you choose to watch, the cost of which will be added to your total monthly bill alongside your broadband and line rental charges.

Both of these packages differ from the main pay-TV platforms in that essentially you only pay for what you watch – direct payments based on what you download is more flexible than a mandatory monthly bill, something which BT and Tiscali, who are now in direct competition with Sky and Virgin in more than one market, hope will pull in customers who want more choice than what is currently available on Freeview, but don't want to be roped into paying for a subscription service.

Whether these two relatively new kids on the block can square up to the big lads in the marketplace remains to be seen, but should make for interesting viewing nonetheless.

Oh, and in case you didn't hear, Salisbury City held out until the dying seconds of the game yesterday to claim a 1-0 victory over Braintree, cementing their position at the top of the Conference and ensuring promotion for next season.

Here at Digital TV, we are currently following the progress of Salisbury City Football Club in their quest for Conference National football. On Sunday, they are set to clash with Braintree at Steveange Borough's ground in the final Play-Off game. The game is being screened live on Setanta Sports and kick off is at 4.45 p.m. Look out for a 'Digital TV face' playing for Salisbury in the midfield!

Come on you Whites!!!